IHOP has officially rediscovered itself.
On Monday, the pancake house chain reverted to its long-standing name after a temporary switch to “IHOb” last month, with the “b” standing for burgers. By flipping the “P” to “b,” the restaurant generated some buzz to promote a new line-up of beef patties.
Reverting to the original name is aimed to draw diners back to its core breakfast business — in particular, a 60-cent pancakes promotion on July 17 celebrating IHOP’s 60th birthday.
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“We knew we had a very tough job to do to convince people that we take our burgers as seriously as we take our pancakes,” said Stephanie Peterson, IHOP’s executive director of communications. “So, we went bold with the campaign.”
The chain originally hinted at a name change on Twitter at the beginning of June, as it first revealed the “IHOb” name. One week later, on June 11, the company officially announced the change.
The name-change move accomplished what appears to have been its core goal: It got people talking. IHOP’s Word of Mouth Score rose in the week following its announcement, according to YouGov, which tracks the perception of more than 1,500 brands daily through its BrandIndex.
However, IHOP’s rebranding effort did not create a significant increase in the company’s purchase consideration, which measures the likelihood of consumers eating at a particular restaurant chain, YouGov found.
Just as reactions were mixed to IHOP’s original name change, there has also been a variety of comments with this switch back, ranging from appreciation to sass.
Though the company has officially changed its name back to IHOP, it confirmed on Twitter that it will still be selling its new burger line.
